


my brain takes a vacation (just to give my heart more room)

by irrelevantlyvalid



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: ((not the whole thing though)), Canon Compliant, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Unresolved Sexual Tension, its 2am and i didnt edit this, maccready is such a little shit, maccready realizes he has a crush, spoilers for Main Quest, teeth brushing???? is that a tag????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29875101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevantlyvalid/pseuds/irrelevantlyvalid
Summary: maccready finally brushes his goddamn teeth and also figures out that he has a crush.
Relationships: Robert Joseph MacCready/Male Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready/Sole Survivor
Kudos: 13





	my brain takes a vacation (just to give my heart more room)

**Author's Note:**

> title from bruce springsteen's "crush on you" :)

Following is a complete list of facts that MacCready knew about Wyatt West.

He had a wife, Nora, who was shot by Kellogg. He had a son, Shaun, who was still out there, somewhere. He used to live in Sanctuary Hills. He was the general of the Minutemen. He was a horrible shot. He refused to wear any armor that covered his face, because “at this point, my face is pretty much the only thing I have going for me.” His favorite comic was Grognak the Barbarian. He picked up every piece of junk that he found, no matter how useless MacCready insisted it was and no matter how full his bag was. He picked up toys for Shaun when he thought MacCready wasn’t looking. He didn’t like chems, but he indulged in the occasional cigarette. He had a horrible singing voice, but that never stopped him from hollering along to _Uranium Fever_. He insisted on getting his hair cut once a month, no matter how many times MacCready told him it was a waste of caps. As sarcastic as he was and as mean as he pretended to be, he helped as many people as he could, even if there wasn’t a reward. He snorted when he laughed. And whenever his hand brushed MacCready’s as he handed him some ammo, or a bottle of purified water, or a comic he thought MacCready would like, MacCready felt his pulse speed up and a tightening deep in his stomach.

It was around midnight when they finally found a decent place to stop and rest, some old house that hadn’t been completely destroyed by the war and had functioning locks. It was small, just a bathroom down the hall from one bedroom and a kitchen, but it would do for the night. The pair scouted the house, guns raised, and when they found no threat besides a radroach which Wyatt promptly squished under his boot, they finally relaxed and put down their bags.

MacCready sat at the end of bed, trying to no avail to get his lighter to keep a flame long enough to light up the end of his cigarette. The dull green glow of Wyatt’s Pip-Boy was the only light, and his humming to _Butcher Pete_ and heavy footsteps as he looted the bathroom the only sounds.

Giving up on his cigarette, MacCready laid back in the bed. Tomorrow morning, they would continue their hike towards the Glowing Sea, looking for the escaped Institute scientist. What a freakin’ nightmare. This would be the job that finally killed him.

“Aw hell yes!” came Wyatt’s voice from the bathroom.

MacCready stood. “Find something valuable?”

He walked into the bathroom to find Wyatt with a handful of packaged toothbrushes and toothpaste, with the biggest, dumbest grin on his face. MacCready tried to be mad.

“Christ, Wyatt, I thought you finally found something worth more than five caps. Why do you need this junk anyway?”

Wyatt wasn’t listening. He was too busy opening up the packages, before delightedly squirting the toothpaste onto the toothbrush and sticking it in his mouth.

“Don’t you see how great this is?” Wyatt asked through a mouthful of toothpaste, “do you have any idea how much work went into these pearly whites? Five years of braces, plus a retainer for another two. I even had to wear headgear! All that hard work gone to waste because no one in the Commonwealth has any goddamn hygiene.” He shot MacCready a foamy grin.

“Yeah, whatever. I think we all have bigger problems than nice teeth,” MacCready replied with a roll of his eyes, turning to go back into the bedroom.

“You say that now,” Wyatt called out, “but by the time you’re thirty, you’re gonna need denchers. Just brush your teeth!”

“Piss off,” MacCready replied, flopping back down onto the bed as he heard the sink running.

“Psh,” Wyatt said, almost to himself, “bet you don’t even know how to.”

Freakin’ Wyatt always knew how to push his freakin’ buttons. MacCready already knew Wyatt would be the death of him, but he didn’t think it would be like this. He marched back into the bathroom and snatched one of the toothbrushes out of Wyatt’s hand with a glare. How hard could it be? He squeezed the toothpaste onto the brush like he saw Wyatt do and stuck it in his mouth with a pout.

He moved the toothbrush around his mouth for about ten seconds before swallowing the toothpaste. He looked back up at Wyatt triumphantly to see a look of horror on the vault dweller’s face.

“You’re not supposed to swallow it!” Wyatt whisper-shouted incredulously. MacCready only shrugged, which seemed to aggravate Wyatt more. “Dude! That’s bad for you!”

MacCready was struggling to maintain his bored expression when Wyatt looked so bewildered. It was so easy to rile him up. He swallowed a chuckle and replied, “And what are you gonna do about it?”

What MacCready expected was for Wyatt to tackle him, to start one of their frequent, friendly sparring sessions. Sometimes MacCready would intentionally rile Wyatt up; sparring was a good way to blow off steam. And either MacCready would be able to outmaneuver Wyatt with his cat-like agility or Wyatt, with all of his brute strength, would pin MacCready to the floor with a smirk. And maybe, just maybe, there was a little part of MacCready that liked it when that happened.

Instead of a fight, MacCready got Wyatt reaching out and gently taking the toothbrush from MacCready’s hands. MacCready bit down on the inside of his cheek as their fingers brushed, telling himself that the heat in his stomach was just a side effect of all the rads he had taken that day. Wyatt raised the toothbrush up to MacCready’s mouth with a smile. “Open up!”

MacCready rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that evening, but complied anyway. He opened his mouth as Wyatt moved the toothbrush inside, and began to brush around MacCready’s mouth.

They continued like that for a moment, MacCready holding his mouth open as Wyatt brushed his teeth with a determined look in his eyes. Then Wyatt placed a hand under MacCready’s chin and held it up so that he could get a better angle and their eyes met and _oh_. 

Suddenly, everything was very clear. He wasn’t sure if it was the endearing squint of Wyatt’s eyes as he focused on the task at hand, or the way he bit his lip when he concentrated, or the warmth of his calloused hand cradling MacCready’s chin, but MacCready felt his heart leap in his chest as he realized: _oh, shit. I have a fucking crush._

MacCready was snapped out of his reverie by Wyatt releasing his chin. “This is the part where you’re supposed to spit,” Wyatt said, and MacCready was too stunned into silence by his revelation to argue. When he looked up from the sink, Wyatt’s face was split into a grin. “Now, was that _really_ so bad?”

In an attempt to seem normal, MacCready gave Wyatt the finger, and apparently, it worked, because Wyatt laughed as he walked down the hallway. As soon as he was gone, MacCready slammed the door and desperately tried to make sense of what was happening. 

It was all starting to make sense. The raised eyebrows Piper had given him when she caught him staring at Wyatt. Garvey awkwardly asking if they wanted the double bed at the Castle. Valentine thinking they were a couple and he’s a _goddamn detective_. God, was he the last one to figure out that he had a thing for Wyatt?

And that was the worst part of it. It wasn’t just attraction. Attraction MacCready could get over. No, this was a _goddamn crush_. He could get over Wyatt’s stupid handsome face and stupid perfect body, but what really screwed him was how Wyatt always gave MacCready the preserved cigarette packs he found and how when he offhandedly mentioned always wanting one of those Minutemen hats, Wyatt actually got him one.

MacCready splashed some water on his face and forced himself back to the bedroom where Wyatt was presumably asleep in the sole bed. MacCready rummaged through Wyatt’s bag for one of the sleeping bags, but he was interrupted by Wyatt’s groggy voice.

“C’mon, Mac. Just get in. Long journey tomorrow.”

Despite all the sirens going off in MacCready’s head about how bad an idea sharing a bed with Wyatt was, the temptation of a real bed instead of a sleeping bag was too great. He quietly lifted up the sheets and slid in beside Wyatt.

It had been a long time since MacCready had slept in the same bed as someone else. It had been since...well. He had forgotten what it was like: the gentle dip of the mattress next to him, the heat radiating off of another body. And when MacCready was finally able to calm his rapid heartbeat and pause his spiraling thoughts, he slept better than he had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!!! this is my first fic, so go easy on me! constructive criticism is great and kudos/comments are deeply appreciated :)


End file.
